Just a few hours ago I found out about the Gen-Y presentation and opennasa.com. I must say that I am extremely excited that there are like minded people that are working at making NASA great. I got introduced to the presentation from one of my project leads (who has listened to me bring up many of the same things mentioned in the presentation) and I must say that I really like it; however, my lead brought up a good point. He stated that the presentation was very “hip” but that the presentation style was likely to get very little attention from NASA management. It falls under what I call “know your audience”, the presentation was a great presentation for young people and I am certain that anybody our age will love it (as I and many others did and will). Yet, older generations are more acclimated to having things presented to them more formally with charts and figures. I expect that NASA management will consider the presentation as “selfish” as Mensah stated in “The Larger Picture” because the NASA culture is military in nature. In their minds a good soldier does what they are told and doesn’t sass back. Don’t try telling them we are not in the miliatry because they will likely think you are being “selfish”.
Anyway the point to this post is to suggest that we should create a new presentation geared towards conveying the pressing issues that are blatantly apparent to Gen Y to the older generation leaders in a way that they can understand and not feel we are being “selfish”. I have read Wikinomics and that book has many good case studies that could be used in the presentation. I am certain that the users of opennasa.com are aware of much more information that would help make a compelling argument that will motivate our leaders to not only listen to us but agree with us.
Rolando
March 27th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
[…] comments on the Open NASA […]
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I’m a 20something at Ames and I have to say I completely agree. It’s not just about them listening to us, its about us listening to them.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
“Selfish” is one of those funny words that changes in meaning, depending on how it is used. Does it mean self-absorbed? Does it mean self-indulgent? Does it mean focusing on self instead of connecting with others? Does it mean keeping things to oneself so others can’t have them? As a parent of a Gen Y, I find it tough to find evidence for that label in the behavior of my adult son or any of his peers. BUT, if “selfish” means saying “yes” to one’s knowledge, “yes” to knowing you can impact our troubled world, “yes” to self-discovery, “yes” to opening doors however risky…well, then, I applaud the selfishness of Gen Y. It means that we parents just might have done something right.
April 5th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Elizabeth your statement sums it up. However, I do have to state that we can’t allow them to indoctrinate us (their doctrine bites). Generation Y has it’s own tempo…and yes we are selfish enough to have self-confidence but that doesn’t mean we are selfish just that we have our own opinion. Having your own opinion and being an individual is sometimes deemed as selfish by older people.
Michele I think that Generation Y has the potential to be so selfish that they will make a difference. A positive one.
One of my leads told me that in his experience change always comes from the bottom and hardly ever from the top. The reason is because only those in the front line have enough insight to make a difference. I told him Duh! He then went on to tell me that our leadership seems to think that the opposite is true. “Well gee golly no wonder we have so many problems” I thought.
I asked a high level individual in NASA if they would consider opening up “problems” that NASA was having for solving by individual engineers in the web. He stated that the only way NASA’s problems could be solved (aka solutions found) is if you are aware of the issues that are pertinent to NASA….To an extent I agree…but I also believe that there are more intelligent people outside the team of people tasked to solve specific issues than there are inside the group (strength in numbers). Procter and Gamble is a company that has utilized this knowledge to streamline their product development and drive up innovation — they are doing pretty well for themselves.
Generation Y we have to be selfish…we have to rock the boat…because if we don’t the boat will sink. If we wait for our turn it will be too late and that is unacceptable.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Congrats to the work that has already been done to try and get this generation involved with NASA. As a member of Gen Y, I have to admit that I have little or not interest in NASA. I don’t even know what is being worked on. And to be more honest, not being included in the discussion, not being informed, and still having to pay some of the bill is frustrating.
Older generations are quick to call us a selfish generation, yet we happen to be one of the most engaged generations when it comes to community and social issues. We are also innovative and collaborative, not to mention HUGE. Not targeting or listening to this generation is stubborn, short sighted, and simply bad for business.
We have something to offer. The successful organizations, businesses, and causes will notice and take advantage of this.
As a PR and Business Major, I say do the research, find the charts, show them the facts and the financials. No business can afford to ignore this upcoming generation. Show them that, and your case will be hard to ignore.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:20 am
You’re frustrated at having to pay a $0.15 per day bill? And yet for that price, you get operational weather monitoring, evidence for climate change, improvements in aviation safety, and the wonders of the cosmos at your fingertips. If you’d like to be informed, then do your research. Check out some websites or pick up a newspaper.
April 8th, 2008 at 4:37 am
MollyM– good point at the end. Most institutions adjust to the times and changing demographics– for-profit have faster, sexier commercials, the IRS lets you do taxes online, churches change the music styles– what _doesn’t_ adjust to the times to better engage the current generation? There’s nothing wrong with that. Academic institutions themselves have evolved, since NASA is comparable to them. This doesn’t have to necessarily be a disrespectful rebellion either; yes, show NASA leaders the case and they can’t ignore.